Learning Messiah

Israel’s election, calling, and history make up a big part of Scripture. It could be said that they belong to the ＂＂DNA of the Bible.＂＂ But why is it then that the Christian narrative about the Messiah, Israel, and the nations, often seemed to have and sometimes even still has a different ＂＂genetic structure＂＂? Does Israel--together with its election and promises--leave God’s stage through a side door, when Jesus appears on stage? Does a changing of roles take place, within a different story? Does the Messiah function within it as some kind of ＂＂black hole＂＂ in which the eternal election and calling of Israel disappear? How do we read God’s way? The Holocaust made us realize that our de-Jew-ized reading and preaching of Scripture contributed in various ways to this catastrophe. And we find ourselves confronted by the question: How does the narrative of the Bible then look when the whole of Scripture plays a decisive role, and the faithfulness of God toward Israel stays in the center? This book presents an answer to these questions, calling us to learn to read God’s way anew, and to walk in it. ＂＂Learning Messiah by Edjan Westerman is a full scale biblical theology that is passionately Christian and passionately ’post-supersessionist’ in equal measure . . . the contents of the book have impressed me as accessible, engaging, detailed, and often profound.＂＂ --R. Kendall Soulen, Emory University, Atlanta ＂＂E. J. Westerman has written a very important book that revolutionizes our understanding of both Israel and the church. In the case of the latter, a more deeply rooted biblical identity of the church arises on the basis of a new canonical approach to biblical theology. This new canonical approach restores the ongoing meaning of Israel to God’s purpose in creation and consummation and hence the unity of purpose for Israel and the church.＂＂ --Daniel Juster, director of Tikkun Ministries International ＂＂Ever since the Holocaust Christian theologians have reexamined previous Christian thinking about Israel. Most have rejected one aspect of supersessionism, that which posited an end to God’s covenant with the Jewish people . . . EJ Westerman provides us with a retelling of the biblical story in which Israel and her Messiah are at the center. This retelling sheds much new light on not only the Bible but the meaning of Israel and the nations. This is an important and helpful book for Christian theology, the Church, and Israel today.＂＂ --Gerald R. McDermott, Beeson Divinity School/Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama ＂＂Learning Messiah is an important book. Edjan Westerman reads the Bible as a ’co-reader’ with deep respect for Israel, the first reader. Starting from the belief that we received the Tenach and the New Testament from the beloved and elected people of Israel’s God, he overviews and corrects the common Christian Biblical theology with his ’own’ integral canonical approach . . . He wrote this book for the common, interested reader and invites them to react and to take a position. If we receive the Bible in modesty and in acceptance of the priority of God to Israel--what does this mean for our faith and our relation to the people of the Messiah?＂＂ --Bas Plaisier, and former Vice President of the World Communion of Reformed Churches ＂＂E. J. Westerman’s book sets the standard for a new genre of theological literature--a post-supersessionist biblical theology which re-casts the biblical metanarrative along the lines of R. K. Soulen’s The God of Israel and Christian Theology. His proposals will not be accepted by all, as they challenge a deep-rooted and prevailing paradigm. But anyone interested in a renewed biblical understanding of God’s ongoing purposes through Jesus the Messiah with both Israel and the Church and all nations, and a detailed exposition of the whole of Scripture in support of such an understanding, will take serious note of this exciting and radical approach.＂＂ --Richard Harvey, author of Mapping Messi

Edjan Westerman studied at the Theological Faculty of the Free University, Amsterdam (Old and New Testament). Following a period as a staff worker for the Dutch branch of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, he served as a pastor within the Protestant Church in the Netherlands. The Dutch edition of Learning Messiah appeared in 2015, and was welcomed by a broad readership from all denominations. To find out more, also visit www.learningmessiah.com.